Posts Tagged ‘cottage’

After completing “Anvil Grille” and having lunch, I ventured onto the main street of Cedarburg. Although a number of artists were working on the typical main street scenes, I found this sight behind one of the stores. Nestled between two buildings and somewhat out of the view of pedestrians, I worked on this design. Started around 1 P.M., I made some assumptions about possible shadows (which did not happen to the extent I had hoped for) and a took a little artists prerogative concerning the flower pots (after all, it was early June). Not a prize winner, but I like it anyway.

In need for a subject to paint in watercolor, I decided to revisit a design worked in oil paints a couple years ago. It is a challenge to move from oils to watercolor or vice-versa. The need for good planning is magnified with watercolors. Critical to preserve the whites as long as possible. Vital to intensify the initial applications of paint to minimize the chance of mud invading the painting.

On another note, I decided to clean out some inferior works from the studio. Nearly forty paintings on panels and almost two dozen paintings on stretchers bit the dust. Fresh canvas attached to the stretchers and many of the panels recycled to be used in the future, hopefully to more successful results.

As I ate breakfast, I decided on a spot to travel and paint. As I walked out of our cottage with my gear, I noticed the beautiful play of shadows and light across a neighboring cottage and changed my mind. Decided to paint this subject. Unfortunately I did not have shade and I did not have my umbrella with me. Improvised by backing my car up to my easel, raised the hatch and threw a blanket over the window. Worked well. I painted while Clawed slept in the grass nearby and Helen enjoyed some quiet reading time.

I used sketches, a reference photo and a watercolor painting as a basis to create this work as an example for my oil painting students.

At class, I started by discussing the reference photo. The actual scene had numerous non-essential items such as a boat on a trailer and a grill. We discussed reducing the design to the simplest elements and adding back only those things that will help tell the story.

I had this design sketched onto my canvas and added some alizarin crimson to tone the canvas. I did a rough block-in, which left this painting in a mediocre mid-tone state. That is, although the students could see the painting coming together and could discern all of the elements, it was not polished. Lines were not straight and refined. Spots of the painting were a bit muddy. Extremes of values were non-existent. It was a painting but it was not art. Later, I added the refinements and punches to make the design pop.

In an effort to help my watercolor students loosen up and get a little more bold with their initial applications of paint, I worked this demonstration.

I started with a 16 x 20 block of watercolor paper. I created the drawings side-by-side. The fun and yet tough part of this was to apply my first, or “Outline” phase in the same manner to each of the two designs. That is to say, I worked to get both sides of this work as similar as possible. With watercolor, you will never get the same results twice, but it is still a fun challenge. When this “Outline” phase was completed and dried, I selected the painting on the right side to use for my “Refine” and “Define” stages. This enabled the students to better understand the steps necessary to create their paintings. It also helps them to see how they can go a little more bold with their initial washes of paint to help keep their finished works fresher and a little less muddy.